Britain is full of abandoned and lost villages. There are over 3,000 in England alone. Many were deserted in medieval times, for reasons ranging from death by plague to the depletion of the area's natural resources, or, more recently, for reasons of national security. Villages such as Tyneham in Dorset, and Imber in Wiltshire, were taken over by the military in wartime, but were never returned to their original inhabitants.Today, the fascinating remains of these once-populated villages tell the stories of the inhabitants that once lived and worked there. Author Leigh Driver examines the historical writings, documents and archaeological remains that bear witness to the past, and tells the story of the demise of each lost village. Illustrated with stunning contemporary colour photographs alongside old aerial views, maps, and historical documents, these lost villages are brought back to life in this outstanding book.

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About the Author

Leigh Driver is a qualified genealogist and an authority on English towns and villages. She is the author of The English Village, also by New Holland. Leigh is the Recorder for Brandon, where she lives, under the Suffolk Local History Council's Local Recorders Scheme and is currently researching a book on the town's history. Leigh also maintains the award-winning English Villages website (www.eng-villages.co.uk)

The subject of the 'lost' villages of England is a fascinating one. Although popular tradition states that most such villages were wiped out by the Black Death, far more were destroyed by landowners who wanted to keep sheep, and the British Army has a disgraceful record of taking over people's homes with no compensation offered.

This book explores many such deserted villages in detail, and it brings the subject to life with authoritative text and extremely evocative photographs. It's impossible not to feel the mystery and lost history of these abandoned places. My only complaint is that this book does not cover ten times as many villages!

I bought this book as a result of discovering the two lost Warwickshire/Northamptonshire villages of Braunstonbury and Wolfhamcote. I had always assumed that villages were deserted either as a result of the Black Death or the enclosures of the eighteenth century but this book makes it clear that it was not as simple as that. Sometimes it is difficult to be sure why villagers abandoned their homes; in the case of these two villages it seems to have been a gradual process although the ravages of the Black Death would have accelerated the villages' decline. I would not like to visit other villages around the country and this book will be an invaluable companion.

As the preface makes clear, this book follows on from Maurice Beresford's classic 'Lost Villages of England' (1954) and Richard Muir's more pictorial survey of 1985. The photography throughout is superb, none more so than that of the restored church of Houghton-on-the-Hill (Norfolk) on page 9, which I last saw around 1991 as an ivy covered wreck. The publishers have added an extra dimension by including vintage aerial views, though in one case this has resulted in one almighty howler, in that the photo on page 86 (bottom left) does NOT show Mintlyn church ruins, which for some 50 years have comprised no more than the west gable wall. The photo actually shows a ruinous farmstead, which has since disappeared, though I admit it looks very church-like at first glance. This gripe aside, this is a lovely book, nicely produced and well written.